Russia and War

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20241, 8 May 1940, Page 9

Russia and War

Sir, —Many letters have been published in the Herald concerning Russia and her attitude leading up to the present European situation. We now realise that Russia at the moment is sitting pretty. Through real fear she was forced to secure her frontier from her enemies and she is now busy fortifying the new frontier she has acquired. Whether she was justified in using hostile action for territorial acquisition remains to be seen. Since Russia became a Socialist republic, not one nation could she count on as a friend; she was surrounded by nations of enemies. Those 1 nations who would have Russia destroyed have turned upon themselves, and we see them to-day in the act of destroying one another. Through fear and strategy Russia has managed to evade that which has befallen the rest of Europe. We can only surmise what may happen when the nations become exhausted through war. Like a drowning man grasping at a straw, will the people turn to communism for relief? That danger lies in the future. Only when they are blind and weak will people turn from a straight course. This war hysteria that has confounded the minds of men breaks all the sanctity of human intelligence. Our high ideals that we have striven for, our wonderful knowledge and education have failed us, just when we .thought the world had found a basis of security through the League of Nations; but greed and selfishness wps more powerful than reason. Perhaps the League itself was at fault. How useless it is in trying to build a thing on injustice. Europe says she is suffocating, and yet there are vast spaces still unoccupied on the earth. There must be something wrong with the Governments of the world for allowing it to get into such a state of chaos. To-day man’s soul is crying out in anguish at the futility of it all. W. J. CALLAHAN.